AHL Journal: Legace feeling like a kid for Falcons

The hair is still full, but noticeably grayer. The joints are
stiffer and the eyes more of a problem.

Springfield Falcons netminder Manny
Legace (Photo by Dan Hickling)

But otherwise, Springfield Falcons goalie Manny Legace is
feeling like a kid. And playing like one, too. Legace, a spry 39,
has played with renewed vigor since returning this season
inprodigal fashion to the Springfield Falcons.

Playing, by his own admission, “my best hockey in a few
years”, Legace is wrappingup a campaign that put him back on
hockey's radar.

Signed by the Columbus Blue Jackets as a minor-league insurance
policy, Legace defied any doubters (himself included) by recording
a 2.74 goals-against average in 32 starts.That was actually better
than his numbers (3.03) of 12 years ago, when he pulled his last
serious tour of duty with the Falcons.

“It was really good up to a month and a half ago,”
said Legace. “It was really, really good. I was playing the
best I'd played in a couple years. Things were going really
well.”

Ah, but what happened six weeks back to derail him? At first, it
was hard to say.

“I got into a slump and I couldn't figure out why,”
he said. “I wasn't seeing the puck very well. It's kind of
important as a goalie to see the puck. I was battling
it.”

Legace, as it turned out, had developed a tiny bit of water on
the retina of his eye. Doctors told him it was a freak
occurrence.

“It was just a rare thing,” he said, “that
happened to guys my age, the doc said. I said, 'Oh, thanks, doc.'
It was a weird thing that happened. It was caused by
stress.”

Stress? Goaltending? Hard to figure that. The condition put
Legace on the shelf from mid-February until last weekend (except
for one game). It turned out that the only remedy was rest. Neither
eye drops nor surgery would do the trick.

Fortunately, Legace, despite his “advanced” age,
flashed the recuperative powers of a much younger man.

“It healed faster than the doctors thought it
would,” he said. “Thank the 'Big Man Upstairs' that I
got lucky that it healed by the time (the season)
finished.”

And Legace came back to the Falcons, who are still trying to
slip into a playoff berth, in the nick of time. He was impressive
in back-to-back wins against both Providence and Worcester, helping
knock those foes further out of the playoff picture.

“I need about five more games,” said Legace,
referring to what remains of Springfield's schedule. “Five
more.”

Around the AHL

Rosters continue to shuffle as amateur players make their way
into the AHL and NHL teams pull up players for the stretch run. The
most significant move made was the promotion by Boston of
Providence goalie Anton Khudobin to back up Tim Thomas and Marty
Turco. Khudobin had missed several weeks with a wrist injury, but
had recently rounded back into shape. … On the ATO front,
Columbus signed center/wing Boone Jenner – a former
second-round pick – and sent him to Springfield.